Examining the Tale of Keloğlan and Giant Mother Using Psychoanalytic Method: Transition from the Preoedipal Stage to the Oedipal Stage

Abstract

Psychoanalytic literary theory is one of the frequently used analytical approaches. The theory tries to understand the unconscious motivations and desires of characters in literary works, as well as subjects in real life. This theory, founded by Sigmund Freud and developed by his followers, suggests that the words, behaviors and actions in a literary text can be interpreted through a psychoanalytic lens in order to reveal the repressed desires and anxieties of the characters and the author alike. In the psychoanalytic approach, the oral stage, one of the psychosexual stages, is the period when strong bonds between the mother and the child are at the forefront, and competition with the father has not yet emerged. This period can also be called the pre-oedipal period. At this stage, as sexual differences begin to be perceived, the child turns towards the opposite-sex parent. This phase, which includes the phallic period, is referred to as the oedipal period. During this period, the father, whom the child perceives as positive or negative, is also included in the child's life. Fairy tales have been passed down through generations and have survived until today, both orally and in writing. The effects of situations such as fear and violence that can be found in fairy tale on children and how the child perceives and assimilates this content have attracted the attention of psychoanalytic literary theorists. It is assumed that the language of fairy tale can be effective in solving some unconscious issues of the child in the pre- and post-oedipal periods. In this text; In terms of psychoanalytic theory, the tale of Keloğlan and the Giant's Mother, which is thought to include the issues of the child's pre-oedipal period, has been tried to be interpreted in the light of 'psychoanalytic literary theory'.